Information bearing devices comprising an information bearing pattern are widely used in authentication, identification, tracking, telecommunications, verification, and other applications. For example, information bearing devices such as watermarks or data embedded image patterns are frequently incorporated in documents such as identification documents, certificates, authorization permits; articles such as product tags and labels and valuable articles such as credit cards, currency notes and the like. When information bearing devices are so used, the information bearing patterns characteristic of such devices may be formed as a background image pattern, as a foreground image pattern or as a mixture of both.
Information bearing patterns accompanying information bearing devices for authentication, identification, tracking, verification, and like applications often work with an image capture device and an image of the information bearing patterns so captured will then be utilized for their designed objectives.
With the rapid advancement in image capture technologies and other pattern reproduction techniques, there is an increasing risk that information bearing devices are captured, copied and misused.